204
[1st witness Lam Chu.]
6
89. Mr. Whyatt to Witness: You told us about the sailors that you saw on the submarine. How much of the hull of the vessel could you see? At the time we
were fired at the whole of the submarine was fully afloat. 90. That was when it was about three times the length of this court away? Yes, fully afloat when this submarine was about twice the length of this court away from us.
91. When you first saw the submarine was it as fully afloat as when she was about to
fire at your junk? Yes, she was fully afloat when I first saw her.
92. I just want to ask you if you can tell me what was the colour of this submarine
Silvery grey in colour.
93. Was the sun shining that morning? Yes.
94. What did these sailors do when they came up close to your junk? They were
fairly tall sort of men with things hanging down from the shoulders.
95. What I asked was what did these sailors do when the submarine came close
up and began firing on the junks? They were working at these guns. 96. Was it one gun or two guns? They used one gun to fire at us. 97. What happened? My junk was hit on the side once.
98. And what happened to your brother's junk-Lam Shu-po's junk?
twice and then the junk went down.
He was hit
99. Was Lam Shu-po's junk hit before yours or after? Lam Shu-po's junk was hit first
and then she sank.
100. When you were hit was anyone injured aboard your junk? Yes, one person was
injured.
101. What was his name? Kwok Tai-fu.
IOIA. Was he badly injured? Yes, he was killed and another person was injured. 102. Whereabouts was Kwok Tai-fu when he was killed? He was inside No. 1 hold
which is the very first hold counting from the bow.
103. You told us that someone else was injured? Yes, Lam Yau-tai. He was not directly hit by the bullet but a bullet hit something on board and sent those broken parts of that something on to him and hurt him.
104. Is Lam Yau-tai a relation of yours? My younger brother.
105. After the submarine had fired at your junk, did you see what it did next: where did it go after it fired at you? After that it went a little further and shot at the next pair.
106. That would be Chan Kau and Yeung Yat-hei? Yes.
107. Did you see what happened to that pair? They were also hit.
108. And what happened to them? The next pair the submarine fired at was not Chan
Kau's pair but the other pair-the fifth pair-Fung Kam-shing's pair.
109. Did you see what happened to Fung Kam-shing's junks after the submarine
fired at them? As a result of the firing the pair went down.
110. Did you see where the submarine went after firing at Fung Kam-shing's junks?
Then she fired at that other pair the 4th pair-Chan Kau's.
III. And what happened to this junk? When Chan Kau's pair was hit that pair was not then in that position as shown here; she had gone a little distance because there was an interval. The submarine did not go for her but Fung Kam-shing's junks first.
112. What happened to them after that? The junks were hit and the submarine then
fired at Chan Kau's and Yeung Yat-hei's.
113. What happened to the pair of junks after they were hit? One sank completely
and the other went down a little.
114. Then you were going on to tell us what the submarine did after firing at the pair
of junks-you say it approached Li Mun's junks and fired at that?
Yes.
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[1st witness Lam Chu.]
115. What happened to Li Mun's junk? They both went down completely.
116. Li Mun and Ng Ying-kit? Yes, they both sank.
117. What did you do after your junk had been hit by shells from this submarine? I
lowered a sampan and then I lowered the mainsail.
118. What was your object in lowering the mainsail ? After we were hit we knew that our boat would be sunk and then we lowered the mainsail for the reason that we wanted to hold on to the mainsail, for we knew that it would float.
119. Can you tell me what is the general custom among fisher folk in case of an emergency? In case of an emergency we depend entirely on the mainsail to save us-we depend on that only.
120. Just tell me what is the mainsail made of? Made of matting, which is made of
seagrass.
121. Is the matting fastened on to poles? Yes, fastened on to poles.
122. What sort of poles? Pine wood poles.
123. About how many poles would there be to your mainsail ? Six pine poles. 124. After you had lowered the mainsail did you do anything to it before your junk
finally sank?
I and the other people on the junk sat down on the mainsail after it had been lowered.
125. Chairman: How many people were there?
persons on this mainsail.
At that time there were about 20
126. From your junk? That mainsail would not accommodate all the 20 persons--
we had a sampan besides the mainsail.
127. Mr. Whyatt: Some in the sampan and some on the mainsail? Yes. 128. Tell me about the other sails, there were three sails altogether?
attention to the other two sails because one of them is made of cotton.
We paid no
129. Between the sampan and the mainsail there were 20 of you altogether? About
28 in all.
130. How many of these were children? 13 or 14 women and children.
131. How many were children? about 10 children.
132. Did you yourself get on to the mainsail? Yes.
133. Will you tell us what happened after you and the other members of your crew got on to the mainsail and into the sampan? After the junk had sunk we were adrift we were floating.
134. How long did you continue to float? We were floating until the 23rd of Septem-
ber when we were picked up.
135. That is the following day? Yes.
136. Who picked you up? A fishing junk.
137. Do you know the name of the master of the fishing junk who picked you up?
I don't know his name.
138. Do you know where he comes from? He comes from San Mei.
139. After he picked you up where did he take you to? We arrived at Shaukiwan on
the following day, the 24th September.
140. You say everyone who was aboard your junk was picked up by this junk
which took you to Shaukiwan? Yes.
141. When you got to Shaukiwan what did you do? I made a report to the Police
Inspector.
142. How long was it after you had arrived at Shaukiwan that you
went along to the Police Inspector to make a report? On the same day, as soon as we arrived at Shaukiwan I made a report.
143. With regard to the sinking of your junk? Yes.
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